Similar experience but without breaking anything. Second week using clipless I rolled up to stop light in a group, clipped out left side and fell to my right. I embarrassingly knocked over the next two riders on my way down... Took a while to live that down... First ride ever with clipless I didn't clip out in time and fell to my right at a stop light in front of a bunch of drivers. When the light went green, I pushed off but didn't clip in soon enough and fell to my left.

Time and practice solve all those problems :-) I've been using Keo's and the Garmin pedals and once you're used to it it's second nature.

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Blog | Strava

I used Click'r pedals in combination with SPD multi-angle-release cleats for years with no issues. "Upgraded" to Keo's on my tri bike, fell over at the first stop. (Luckily, no injuries). Still use the Click'r pedals on the road bike.

Shimano now has a pedal that's essentially a Click'r mechanism, but in a less "commutery" looking housing. https://bike.shimano.com/...himano/PD-ED500.html

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

What makes my story bad is that I have been using clipless pedal for years and was already stopped.

Three weeks ago I could not get unclipped after commuting to work. I use MTB style cleats which in theory release easily but I literally could not get my shoe out after coming to dismount at work. In a finally attempt I really threw my body weight into it thinking something must have been physically stuck in release mechanism. Well the cleat decided to release and because I put so much force into it I slammed my knee against the top tube. As I was straddling my bike my momentum also carried my straight over and I ended up on a heap on the ground underneath my bike. My knee was bruised from the top tube, my hip was bruised from the concrete and my ego was seriously damaged all before having to go straight into work.

When I was in college, I was just finishing a long ride and was completely spent. Riding on campus back to my dorm and stopped at a busy crosswalk for a bunch of students to cross. This was before clipless pedals were widespread and so I had cages and toestraps. In my haste and tiredness, I had forgotten to reach down and loosen a strap so once I started to fall over, no amount of moving my foot was going to get my foot out of that pedal. Hit the ground and flailed around like a fish on dry land trying to get my feet out so I could get up and get moving again. All of this in front of dozens of students on their way to and from class.

Edited to add: no injuries, unless you count my pride and ego, both of which took a major hit that day.

Really embarrassing, a friend and I met a young woman on a mt bike trail. We were stopped and she asked about the clip-in pedals. I was unclipped and standing on my left while my right foot was still clipped in. I assured her there was no issue and how easy it was to clip and unclip, it just takes a bit of practice. Well, I leaned a bit to my right and before I knew it, my balance was just past the line...I quickly tried to pull my foot from the pedal but it held and I tumbled over right in front of her! Yup, EASY to get out of...I'm pretty sure she never thought about clipless pedals again.
Not hurt, just some mud on me knee and bruised ego.

Note: I was a roadie with tons of experience (Look), but I was not used to my mt bike pedals (spd's) and shoes.

Put my first set of clipless pedals on a mountain bike back in college. I was riding a round a small loop where people would drop stuff off then head to the parking lot. A car was coming into the loop and I slowed down to let it in but it slowed down too. Got to that point of unclip or fall and didn't know there was a tension adjustment on the pedals. Couldn't get my foot out and fell down sideways right in front of the car, both feet still in the pedals. No injuries but the embarrassment of having to figure out how to unclip both my feet while on the ground with cars waiting was pretty bad.

haha great responses - thanks all! I guess I should add mine.

Stopped at light with one foot out. Noticed a very attractive lady behind me so I scooted to the left to give her more room to turn right. As I was scooting (and I admit it, flexin' hard in a sleeveless jersey) I went down. Her waving "thanks" turned into the hand over mouth, look of pity and, this is so embarrassing I'm embarrassed for you look. Just deserts for flexin', I guess. The cherry on top was the even more attractive woman behind her also stopping and rolling down the window to make sure I'm ok.

I've somehow trained myself to ONLY clip out to the right first, and not unclip the left until I've come to a standstill

When D'Wife & I do our MS Bike tour each year, we know exactly where the unclipping pile-up is going to be, and we bet on how many go down

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

When I was still active duty in the Marine Corps I used to bike commute daily (Camp Pendleton). I would see the same gate guard every morning for about two weeks, then they'd switch out. This one particular guard started recognizing me after a few days and quit stopping me to check my ID, he'd just wave me through. About a 10 days into his rotation he suddenly decided he needed/wanted to check my ID again, I expecting to get waved through was not prepared to stop. When I did stop I fell right over in front of him and a line of cars half-a-mile long behind me. Worse yet, at least 5-6 of those cars behind me were guys I work with, they never let me live it down.

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

3rd ride. 1st and 2nd I hitched up against a wall or railing to hold onto before unclipping. First time without support.

On a sloped parking lot, next to a drainage ditch. Tipped over off-camber. Into the ditch full of muddy, rotting leaves and spiny blackberry bramble. Separated my shoulder.

The berries weren't even ripe.

I've been riding for years. Two weeks ago I got to a stop light and unclipped my right and turned around to my left to say something to my friends. I felt my weight shift and right foot come off the ground and knew I was going over. I felt like it was in slow motion though. I was doing everything I could to get my left foot out or my weight back to the right but knew I was going over. Luckily I just had a few scratches.

Broke a cleat during a ride that made it near impossible to un-clip my ride foot. Came to a stop and tipped over not once, but twice. The second time was in Times Square and a few people even screamed...

My mom broke her elbow on the first unclip of her first ride. That's pretty bad luck.

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Strava

I was riding on a country road in upstate NY on my first set of Looks. I was over geared on a climb and - since there was no one around - decided to zigzag my way up. I missed a zig, fell, and couldn't get out of either pedal while laying on my side. So I rolled over on my back, hoisted the bike up and clipped out. I walked the rest of the way up. When I remounted i realized I'd crushed a banana in my back pocket - and had to ride another hour before I got home.

Twice. First time, stop sign south of Santa Cruz with 2 training buddies. Pretty new to 105 clipless (this was the early 90s). I didn’t see that they were stopping, and I hit the brakes late, completely forgetting my feet. I avoided hitting their brand new Softrides, as I was on my trusty $200 Sirrus. But after I fell, they both looked back, like, “WTF dude!?!?!”.
Fast forward to 2007. First Speedplays. So much float I couldn’t believe it. But it also meant I had to kick my heel far more to the side. I was nursing a slow leak to get home. Front tire was super soft and caught a groove between the edge of the street and sidewalk at the very last second, while coming up to a light. I tipped left, and I’m not used to kicking out on that side. I fell over and rang my bell on the asphalt pretty hard. No helmet damage, but I was seriously ego-injured.
Now, I have a chainring tattoo on my right calf to cover the multiple stains I’ve gotten over the years.

One of my first rides after getting the "new style" pedals. Must have had them set way too tight - came to a corner and stopped. Couldn't get either foot out and did a classic fall and flip straight into a narrow, 2' deep, dirty, wet drain ditch. Upside down -bike up in the air above me - shoulders wedged in- stuck! And, of course, my main concern was "Oh, Lord! Don't let anyone see me like this and if they do - PLEASE don't let it be anyone I know." Wiggled and grunted for what seemed like forever and finally got loose and out. I've rarely felt like such a complete idiot.

Slow speed tip over with new mtb bike pedals, into a massive thorn bush with super sharp 1/2 inch thorns. In front of my whole riding group. Who all laughed- a lot. And kept laughing as I was well and truly stuck in the damn bush like an upside down turtle. I survived, but my pride and camelbak were write-offs.

http://www.triathlete.com/2016/07/news/javier-gomez-2016-rio-olympics_134173


I’m really sorry to let you all know that yesterday, when I was just about to finish my bike training, I had one of those silly crashes, no faster than 15km/h. Immediately I felt pain in my elbow so we went to the hospital. Scans have confirmed a displaced fracture in the radial head of my left arm. Going into surgery today to fix it.

Hard to top that one ^^

Like most I have a few falls at traffic lights and such. I once dodged going over my handle bars when getting started after the light changed at a busy intersection. Didn't get clipped in and pedal spun around fast with nothing slowing it down and smacked my shin. Which is what broke my momentum of going over the bars. Had a gash for a month.

Most embarrassing was on a trail. First ride on a new P2. Girl on the side of the trail doing something to her bike. She was on my side with bike positioned like she was heading the same way. Right as I neared her she decided she was making a U turn and started walking across the path. I yell out on your left which freezes her in her tracks almost dead center of the trail staring at me like a deer. Riders coming at us so I can't go left and no where to go on the right. Fortunately I had sat up before she initially moved and was able to break in time. Almost like a cartoon I came to a stop about 12 inches from hitting her and unclipped my right. Unfortunately I was tipping to the left and couldn't unclip. Instinctively because it was a brand new bike and I'm a genius I flipped the bike up as much as I could and took the brunt of the fall to my leg and shoulder. Scratch on the rear derailleur, sore shoulder and another gash on my shin. The young lady, decked out in a team kit, on a fairly new looking tri bike looks at me on the ground. Proceeds to walk around me with her bike. Gets on and takes off with out a word. Then the crowd gathers. Are you ok? You're bleeding pretty bad want us to call an ambulance?

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"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "

So far I've only fallen twice from not being able to clip out, both were pretty embarrassing (but fortunately injury free).

First was back in the mid 80s, I got Look pedals as soon as they were available. I was telling one of my training partners how awesome these new pedals were, and that he should get some. He had some concerns that he wouldn't be able to clip out, and I told him there was no issue. About a minute later we stopped at a red light, I couldn't clip out and went over. And no matter what, the pedal wouldn't release. I had to take the shoe off, and it took both of us prying to finally get the pedal to release. At the previous stop I apparently got a pebble wedged in the cleat, and that jammed the pedal. He didn't make the switch to clipless until a few years later.

A few years ago I entered a 12 hour mountain bike race, and on my final lap I was so fatigued that I was having trouble keeping on the trail. On a tight switchback I lost my balance and fell over, with both feet still clipped in. I ended up in some brush just below the trail, upside down, and still clipped in. And the combination of fatigue and position made it impossible to clip out or get myself upright. I was stuck like that for several minutes until another racer stopped and helped me...

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

OK, I'll play. I was riding downhill in the woods on chuckhole filled pavement when a water bottle got launched. The road was narrow so I had to brake hard to go slow enough to u-turn. In the meantime, I'm dodging chuckholes and it completely slipped my mind that I might not want to be in big ring/small cog when starting the u-turn. I start turning and am barely moving and not pedaling (trying to time pedaling to when my big feet don't have overlap issues). The moment comes and my cranks are in the 12:00/6:00 position and they are not turning ... and I am stopped -- with what little wits I have left not being around me at that moment, I had no clue how to get my foot down to keep from falling. Down I go. I look up and there is a deer five feet away from me at the side of the road munching away with a clump of grass halfway in its mouth. Apparently, she thought of me as being no threat at all. Anyway, no serious injury -- just a slightly sprained wrist and a damaged ego (from being owned by a deer -- the only witness).

I think everybody has done this ( albeit mostly without fracturing anything)

My best stall out was on a mountain bike ride in Moab where several buddies and I had traveled to. At the crest of a tricky climb that only a few of the group made without jumping off, I had crested the climb and was showboating a bit when I managed to sink my front wheel into a perfect slot to stop me dead. I wrestled for a second, then fell over with both feet in - and sliced my palm open on a sharp rock.

Instead of bragging rights, I slowly rode back to town with a filthy bandanna bandage dripping blood, then got stitched in the ER and missed the last two days riding with my friends. But I got a story to tell...

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" I take my gear out of my car and put my bike together. Tourists and locals are watching from sidewalk cafes. Non-racers. The emptiness of of their lives shocks me. "
(opening lines from Tim Krabbe's The Rider , 1978

i once had a panic stop situation when i first started cycling. I had those pedals that were a platform on one side and the small metal shimano cleat type on the other. Anyway, instead of twisting my foot I ripped it off the pedal, destroying the pedal. I didn't fall, but I had to but new pedals.

On a side note, my wife noticed once that when i'm on my motorcycle I twist my foot when I remove it from the peg, so thats some ingrained shit right there.

That's great!

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

Young punk named Lance Armstrong at USTS Houston Triathlon in the 80's was doodling around on this bike during the pre race meeting and toppled over when he did not get out of his clipless pedals on time......yeah, it happened....